Rick Perry on GOP’s direction, and his own plans

posted at 10:55 am on April 12, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

Texas Governor Rick Perry sits down for an interview with Melissa Clouthier and me to discuss the SRLC, the future of conservatism, and the message he delivered to Republican leadership at the conference. Just as with his speech, Perry emphasized the need to keep competition between the states as laboratories for policy. “States that have good polices … those are going to be the states that people are going to move to,” Perry says, and points out that Texas is among the fastest-growing states for good reasons. “That’s the place where there’s more liberty, more freedom, than any other state.”

Will Texas stay that way? Perry clearly thinks so, but he’d like to get a little more competition. He points out that Bobby Jindal is trying to put Louisiana in position to knock Texas off the throne, and Haley Barbour is doing the same in Mississippi. What he really wants is a federal government that stops strangling innovation and success with top-down measures that takes all the money and leaves states in a completely subservient — and ultimately redundant and obsolete — position.

Pay attention to the non-denial denial on Perry’s potential presidential aspirations. Melissa asks Perry whether he will try changing the dynamic by running in a national campaign in the near future. Perry sidesteps the question (he also requested to have his name taken off the straw poll ballot) but again emphasizes that the change really should come from the states. I asked him about the challenge he issued to the GOP establishment and whether he was surprised by how few such challenges got issued at the SRLC, and his answer there is interesting, too.

Comments that might come back to haunt people with Presidential aspirations:

There’s a lot of different scenarios. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.

Comments that might come back to haunt people with Presidential aspirations:

There’s a lot of different scenarios. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.

Met the man at his book signing, and he spoke to every person. He was gracious and great with the crowd. I would think that sort of retail politics an important quality, but then, Obama is the most ingracious, cold person possible and he won.

Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Mike Pence, Mitch Daniels and Jim DeMint………………..that’s the “A” team. From this team you’ll have a President and a Vice President. My guess? Sarah will run as President with Mike Pence. And they’ll win.

Comments that might come back to haunt people with Presidential aspirations:

There’s a lot of different scenarios. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.

YYZ on April 12, 2010 at 11:09 AM

I’d have to agree with you there.

ddrintn on April 12, 2010 at 11:12 AM

This is nothing compared to “potentially troublesome” quotes that Obama gave prior to running for President. Did they hurt his chances? If future Republican presidential contenders adopt a “what will they say about me” attitude, they are screwed. Don’t act defensive in the face of media distortions. It only makes you look weak.

Having lived in Kahleefornya over 30 years, and now back in my native Texas, it’s sooo much better with a real governor than a Hollywood governator. Ca has the climate, I’ll give’em that, but that’s because the state government can’t control it, not that “green” Ahnold isn’t trying.

I live in Texas and have voted for Perry every time he has run. With that being said, I question his motives for being conservative. He has been a Conservative because he is in a conservative state. I would not trust him to stay conservative in DC.

Entitlements galore for illegals. Closing down hospitals, overburdened in schools, prisons and cannot prosecute them…..
Sancturary cities.
American used as target practice on roads and on border by illegals.
ACORN in all large cities.

We’ll be delighted to have you down here, but dress light!
It’s gonna be pretty warm.

On the subject of Perry, I’m pretty happy with him as Governor.
He makes me feel a whole lot more grateful than I usually do that I’m a native Texan who lives in TX and not in one of the other 57 states.

Entitlements galore for illegals. Closing down hospitals, overburdened in schools, prisons and cannot prosecute them…..
Sancturary cities.
American used as target practice on roads and on border by illegals.
ACORN in all large cities.

nondhimmie on April 12, 2010 at 12:29 PM

Got links, facts or proof for any of those charges???
I haven’t heard about closing down prisons and/or hospitals.
As for schools, those are run locally, as least Dallas’s are.
It has not been my understanding that entitlements for illegals are all that lavish here, either.
I think Houston is a sanctuary city, but I don’t think Dallas is.
Again, I’m not aware of how much the Governor has to defer to local mayors–maybe a lot.

Is there a big presence of ACORN in Dallas? First I’ve heard of it.
And I thought there were bankrupt.

The thing to remember about Rick Perry is he’s not a leadership politician as much as he is a weather forecaster.

He thought the winds were blowing to the left in 2006-07, and that’s the way he moved with the vaccine mandate and the eminent domain toll road land seizures. The Texas Legislature was to the right of Perry on both those issues, taking him to court to block the former.

It was only when he saw that Hutchison was going to try and run in 2010 to his left that Perry moved back towards the right, to shore up his standing among religious conservatives for the Republican primary. That move allowed him to get out in front of the curve on the anti-Obama/anti-Washington sentiment, because it fit his primary strategy

As long as the winds on the state and national level are blowing in the conservative direction, Rick Perry will be a good governor and a good presidential candidate. But were the polls to start showing 5-6 years from now an electorate that’s moving back towards the left — or at least towards the middle — don’t expect President Perry to stand on principles and not try to get out ahead of the curve.

My humble opinion as a life-long Texan very pleased with Perry is that Palin and Perry seem to have a connection and if one is going for it the other is going to back him or her as a VP. If one is not running the other isn’t either.

* Alaska and Oregon both have state-wide policies that forbid state agencies from using resources to enforce federal immigration law. Oregon law, however, does provide an exception to allow law enforcement officers to share information on immigration status with federal authorities with those arrested for criminal offenses.

As controversy over the advocacy group ACORN flared from Washington into Texas on Tuesday, state politicians quickly began lining up to oppose federal financing for the group and to cut off any state financing.

At the same time, ACORN officials in Texas said the dispute was helping, not hurting, their work by triggering an outpouring of Lone Star support.
Laura Skelding/AMERICAN-STATESMAN
(enlarge photo)
ACORN, which held a rally in Austin in March, wouldn’t be affected much by a cutoff of federal money, the group says.
MORE ON THIS STORY

The back-and-forth unspooled Tuesday, a day after the U.S. Senate voted 83-7 to block the Department of Housing and Urban Development from giving grants to ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The vote was a response to hidden-camera videos released by conservative activists posing as a prostitute and a pimp that showed ACORN employees in Baltimore advising them to lie about her profession and launder her earnings to receive housing assistance.

The video was created by James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles and posted on BigGovernment.com, where O’Keefe identifies himself as an activist filmmaker. Other videos, aired frequently on media outlets such as the Fox News Channel, depict similar situations in ACORN offices in California, New York and the District of Columbia.

As the Senate moved to cut off all federal money to the group, Texas Republican officials weighed in.

“ACORN is a radical liberal organization facing serious allegations of voter fraud, as well as new charges stemming from the recent videos uncovering criminal conduct and should not receive taxpayer dollars,” said Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, who is campaigning for U.S. Senate.

The issue became a flashpoint in the Texas governor’s campaign, with incumbent Republican Rick Perry blasting GOP U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, his challenger, for skipping a vote on the issue to attend a fundraiser. Hutchison fired back with a photo showing Perry in 2005 surrounded by ACORN members as he signed a bill they supported.

Meanwhile, ACORN officials in Texas predicted that the five offices that serve an estimated 50,000 Texans — Austin currently has no office — would see little impact.

“This is actually backfiring on conservatives,” said Ginny Goldman, head organizer of ACORN’s Texas operations. “People who benefit from ACORN are saying, ‘what can I do to help?’ They’re sending checks. They’re mad. They know what this is about: politics.”

Goldman said that even if the HUD money is cut, the group’s Texas operations would not be affected much because they are financed through donations and grants from foundations.

“We never built this organization on government funding,” she said. “If we thought the government was doing a good job at the programs that we assist low- and moderate-income families with, we wouldn’t be in business.”

In Texas, the group has offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, the Rio Grande Valley and El Paso and provides programs that assist people with tax preparation, foreclosure prevention, new citizenship assistance, hurricane recovery, voter registration and counseling on coping with high summer electric bills. It is part of ACORN’s national program of community outreach and advocacy.

The group is perhaps best known in Texas for filing a lawsuit after Hurricane Katrina that led to 4,200 families getting assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that they earlier had been denied.

Already under fire in several voter-fraud registration cases, ACORN on Tuesday was faced with calls for an FBI investigation into the latest flap. Last week, after months of GOP criticism of the U.S. Census Bureau’s plans to work with ACORN in collecting census data and the group’s voter-registration programs that they claim benefit Democrats, the census agency severed its ties with the organization.

The group conducted a massive voter registration effort last year and became a target of conservatives when some employees were accused of submitting false registration forms with names such as “Mickey Mouse.”

On the hidden camera incident, ACORN said Tuesday that it has fired the employees involved, but it has lashed out at Fox for pumping up the scandal. In a statement, Bertha Lewis, ACORN’s chief organizer, said the tapes had been doctored and violated Maryland’s wiretapping laws. She promised to sue Fox.

Fox News spokeswoman Dana Klinghoffer said the tapes were vetted editorially before they were aired.

Conservative lawmakers in Washington and Texas insisted their criticisms of ACORN are on the mark.

State Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, said her office is investigating whether ACORN receives any state money, and if so, she is asking state officials to determine how financing can be stopped while the Legislature is not in session.

U.S. Rep Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, called for FBI and Department of Justice investigations into ACORN. Two other wannabes vying to replace Hutchison — Democrat John Sharp of Austin and Republican Florence Shapiro of Plano — said they would have voted with the Senate majority.

State officials said they could not immediately determine whether ACORN receives state money.

Comments that might come back to haunt people with Presidential aspirations:

There’s a lot of different scenarios. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, you know, who knows what might come out of that. But Texas is a very unique place, and we’re a pretty independent lot to boot.
YYZ on April 12, 2010 at 11:09 AM

Yeah that sort of talk really hurt Reagan.

/s

Freedom is a fragile thing and is never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom and then lost it have never known it again.

I don’t really want to get into this, but feel that I must. I thought his speech was fantastic but make no mistake about it– Governor Perry is George Bush all over again, but is obviously a more appealing politician. I voted for him in the primaries, and I will vote for him in the general election for governor, and volunteered to work on his campaign. He has become more conservative this year because of the election, and it has been great, but I am not deluding myself. Fiscally I have no complaints, but he is what I would consider a RINO on issues such as illegal immigration. I learned this our last amnesty fight, and was deeply saddened, for he is an Aggie also. But I am not going to hold my tongue concerning him – I knew George Bush was no staunch conservative, yet supported him for governor and the presidency whole heartedly, hoping that his rhetoric on the campaign trail would somehow seep into his soul. Hey, if you want another George Bush presidency (we could do much worse), then Governor Perry is your man.

He’s doing a good job here in Texas, other governors can take a page from his playbook. Moved here from Chicago 30 years ago, have never looked back. I gladly will take three months of hot weather, yes everything is air conditioned, over seven months of cold, conservative values and no state income tax. Come on down and lets play golf year round!

I appreciate the information on sanctuary cities and ACORN.
The things those Lib’ruls get up to in Texas!
I’ll tell you what, if ACORN can’t get an office in Austin, which should be sawed off of TX and glued onto CA, then they really don’t have much of a foothold here.

As for sanctuary cities, you’re talking Austin, Houston and one city outside of Houston.
Former Houston Mayor Bill White, who made Houston a sanctuary city, is Rick’s DemocRat opponent in the gubernatorial race this fall.

texasaggie on April 12, 2010 at 1:44 PMHe certainly bobs his head like Bush :) But fiscally speaking, Bush is not a fiscal conservative. Sure he cuts taxes and that was good, but he added entitlements and increased non-military spending.I wouldn\’t mind a Perry President, he certainly is steps above Romney.